Title	THE SMASH-PROOF GUITAR
Brand	SANDVIK GROUP
Product/Service	METAL 3D-PRINTING AND MANUFACTURING
Category	F03. Innovation & Solution
Entrant	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Idea Creation	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Media Placement	VERIZON, DENMARK
PR	VERIZON, DENMARK
PR 2	STONE JUNCTION Stafford, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	BLECK Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Björn Engström	Forsman & Bodenfors	Creative
Kim Cramer	Forsman & Bodenfors	Creative
Stefan Thomson	Forsman & Bodenfors	Creative
Anton Eriksson	Forsman & Bodenfors	Creative
Viktor Eriksson	Forsman & Bodenfors	Creative
Greger Andersson	Forsman & Bodenfors	Account Supervisor
Åsa Pedersen	Forsman & Bodenfors	Account Manager
Daniel Sjöstrand	Forsman & Bodenfors	Planner
Bjarne Darwall	Forsman & Bodenfors	PR Strategist
Anna Junker Lundin	Forsman & Bodenfors	Agency Producer Film
Peter Gaudiano	Forsman & Bodenfors	Web Strategist
Malin Careborg	Forsman & Bodenfors	Web Strategist
Ingrid Arnsand Jonsson	Forsman & Bodenfors	Designer
Jerry Wass	Forsman & Bodenfors	Designer
Helena de Brun	Forsman & Bodenfors	Technical Producer
Andy Holt	Drewman Guitars	Guitar Designer
Marcus Svanberg	Bleck	Director
Robert Feniger	Bleck	Producer
Josefin Kollberg	Bleck	Executive Producer
Carl Nilsson	Bleck	D.O.P
Jo Eken Torp	Bleck	D.O.P
Andres E Sanchez	Bleck	D.O.P
Johan Kjellberg	Bleck	Editor
Oscar Fogelström	Oscar Fogelström	Music Composer
Patrik Olsson	Patrik Olsson	Photographer

Background

Sandvik is a world-leading industrial engineering company with 42,000 employees in 150 countries. However, the awareness and knowledge about Sandvik's advanced techniques were very low outside existing customer relations. This is a problem when attracting talent. Especially since the rapid digitalization requires that Sandvik recruits entirely new competencies in competition with companies such as Google, Apple, and Spotify. The brief was to create awareness on a global level and position Sandvik as a progressive engineering company within a broader target group described as “tech people”. The aim was to start engaging conversation around Sandvik’s technical abilities and foster peer-to-peer marketing from within selected verticals. Other objectives were to strengthen the link to the Sandviks desired brand attributes ​​"Innovative", "Progressive" and "High-tech” and to increase interest in Sandvik as an attractive employer. The Smash-Proof Guitar is a collectors edition limited to one, created exclusively for this communication project.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Why create a smash-proof guitar? It all started when we tried to find out how to combine high-tech and music, two of the things that our audience is most interested in. So, we hijacked a rock'n'roll cultural phenomena—smashing guitars—to showcase Sandvik’s advanced material knowledge and 3D printing competence. The engineers at Sandvik had never built a guitar before but took on the challenge with enthusiasm. To make it unbreakable, they used their high tech innovations in entirely new ways. To make it sound and look great, we collaborated with renowned guitar designer Andy Holt. The whole process was thoroughly documented, the foundation for our in-depth film. Then we went into pop culture and engaged rock icon Yngwie Malmsteen, guitar virtuoso and famed guitar smasher. On stage in Miami, he gave everything he had to destroy the guitar. Nothing happened. Proof of concept.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

To ensure a really playable and great sounding guitar, we collaborated with renowned guitar designer Andy Holt. “We had to innovate from the top down”. The joint between the guitars neck and body was critical. To make it unbreakable, Sandvik choose to integrate an Isotopic Lightweight Structure—the strongest structure ever invented—inside the neck. The guitar body was 3D printed in titanium with an internal lattice construction for best weight and strength ratio. The neck was machined to perfection in a single piece of Sandvik’s stainless steel. Scalloping was made to the fretboard—creating u-shaped valleys between the frets—according to Yngwie Malmsteen’s exact specifications. Sandvik commented: “Advanced materials, precision machining, metal 3D printing, data-driven production—these are the kinds of processes it takes to create something as complicated and beautiful as a guitar for a master musician like Yngwie Malmsteen. This project seemed like a perfect match for our skills and capabilities—and his.”

List the results (20% of vote)

• 41 million views (720% above target) • 132 million exposures (277% above target) • 542 earned media stories in 43 countries (163% above target) • 405,010 clicks on social post links (2,952% above target) • 280,000 landing page visits (211% above target) • Rated 4.1 on a 5-point scale (exceeding 4.0 is considered exceptional) • 29% of the target group became interested in working at Sandvik (107% increase) Perception of Sandvik’s three most important brand attributes increased dramatically within the target group: • "Innovative" increased from 43% to 52%. • “Progressive” increased from 38% to 46%. • “High tech” increased from 46% to 56%. Bonus effects: • 29,241 people visited Reverb's auction page with "Smash-proof guitar" (a normal visitor figure at a guitar auction is 100-200 visitors). • $ 25,000 donated to Engineers Without Borders through the auction of the guitar.